In recent years, technology for the identification of individual objects in which identification information for individual objects (IDs) is assigned to each object and information about the history or the like of the object is specified has been attracting attention. In particular, development of semiconductor devices by which data can be transmitted and received by non-contact using wireless communication by electromagnetic waves has been actively pursued. These kinds of semiconductor devices by which data can be communicated wirelessly are called IC tags, RFID tags, and the like and are being gradually introduced into the marketplace with the objective of, for example, article management.
Presently, many of the semiconductor devices, called IC tags and the like, by which data can be communicated wirelessly, that are being put into practical use have element formation portions with desired circuits formed of transistors and the like and have antenna portions electrically connected to the element formation portions. These kinds of semiconductor devices, by which data can be communicated wirelessly, communicate with an interrogator (also called a reader/writer) wirelessly via electromagnetic waves and can thereby be made to operate by reception of data and power of a power supply from the interrogator. For wireless communication between the interrogator and the semiconductor device, generally, carrier waves modulated by a device on the transmission side are transmitted to a device on the reception side, the device on the reception side receives these carrier waves, and the device on the reception side extracts data by demodulation of the carrier waves, and so, information is transmitted and received thusly.
Article management systems by which communication between an interrogator and a response device is performed wirelessly using an interrogator provided in a wireless communication device that can be carried and a response device that responds to the interrogator are well-known. For the interrogator, an electronic device capable of wireless communication (for example, a cellular phone) is used, and for the response device, an IC tag or the like is used (for examples, refer to Patent Document 1).    Patent Document 1: Japanese Published Patent Application No. 2004-13789